35 years since the ultimate screw job

Because a) Henry Iba was 3000 years old at the time (Old Hank and Marvin Barnes? Yeah, that'll work) and, b) I believe they were still obligated to include players from the AAU teams.

 

The HBO Special on this game from a couple of years ago was tremendous as well.

 

I'll make an effort to hunt that down, Joe.

Thanks for the background, Fenian.

 

Wicked... there's too many Joes on this thread, which one are you referring to? ;D

 

You are right, of course regarding the second attempt. But ... what if the Soviets had tossed in a miracle shot on that attempt? I betcha it would have counted. There's no way anyone could convince me that those officials were going to let anyone win that game but the Soviet Union.

BTW, they kept showing crowd shots. Damn, those people were going crazy, especially after Collins' second free throw. You never will see excitement like that in the Olympics again.

 

The biggest screw job was the way Iba coached that team and that game.

If a trainer puts 100-pound horseshoes on Secretariat, he can't complain that the stewards read the photo finish incorrectly and screwed him . . . because it should never have come to that.

USSR 51, USA 50.

Of course, hearing the Russian national anthem is never a bad thing.

That's just nonsense.

If the game is coached correctly, it's 70-50 USA, and the officials can't do a damn thing about it.

 

The HBO Documentary on it came out in 2002. Can't find a link to buy it, but here's some details about it:
http://www.thecolumnists.com/isaacs/isaacs66.html

 

Several of the highest-profile players (mainly Walton) didn't want to play in the Olympics as some kind of anti-war statement against "American imperialism" or something of that order.

There was also a feeling that Iba didn't give black players a fair shake (this was why Alcindor/Abdul-Jabbar didn't play in 1968, I believe). I think 1964 was the last team on which AAU players were included.

1964 U.S. Olympic Basketball Team:

Head Coach, Hank Iba. Starting Point Guard, Larry Brown.

The minute Brown was named coach of the 2004 team, I fuckin' knew it.

: : :

 

1964 US Olympic team... 9-0.... pts per game 78+, pts allowed per game 48+...final, US 73, USSR 59

1964 USA RESULTS (9-0)
USA 78 Australia 45
USA 77 Finland 51
USA 60 Peru 45
USA 83 Uruguay 28
USA 69 Yugoslavia 61
USA 86 Brazil 53
USA 116 South Korea 50
USA 62 Puerto Rico 42
USA 73 USSR 59



Yup, they sucked!

 

Against the two teams (USSR and Yugoslavia) that did not wear hiking boots and lederhosen on the court, they had victories of 8 and 13 points, with a team that probably should have been winning by 40+ every game.

The Iba/Brown concept of the ideal basketball game is a game that comes down to the final 30 seconds with your team having a 53-51 lead and the ball. They don't believe in such ghetto-ball slamma-jamma fiddle-faddle as actually running a fast break more than twice a game, or maybe scoring more than 75 points unless it's utterly unavoidable. That's just not "The Right Way To Play."